More shootings near mine that claimed Aussie&#39;s life

Gunmen have ambushed police near the Indonesian gold mining operations of US company Freeport, wounding two officers, security officials said.

A 29-year-old Australian, an Indonesian security guard and a policeman died in ambushes at the weekend, in the same area where an attack in 2002 killed two American teachers.

It was the fifth shooting along a road between the town of Timika and Freeport's Papuan gold and copper mine in as many days. The attacks have killed three people and wounded nine.

One of the officers hit on Wednesday was in critical condition, said police and military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk to media.

A Freeport spokesman said he had received the report, but could not confirm it.

Police have been searching for the perpetrators in jungle around Freeport's sprawling Grasberg complex, where 20,000 people work at the world's largest gold mine. No arrests have been made.

A Freeport vehicle also came under fire on Tuesday afternoon but no one was hurt.

Papua, a desperately poor mountain province, lies some 3,400km east of the capital, Jakarta. It is home to a 40-year-old insurgency that denounces Freeport as a symbol of outside rule. They are resentful because Freeport earns billions of dollars in profit from Papua's natural resources.

Local media, however, have quoted rebels as denying involvement in the shootings, and Indonesian officials and experts doubt whether the rebels have the organisation or unity to mount coordinated attacks.